The present disclosure relates in general to the field of computers, and more particularly to the use of computer software. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to the creation of semi-custom software through the use of a standardized software factory.
Software can be classified as being in one of two main categories: “off-the-shelf” and “custom.” As the name implies, off-the-shelf software is pre-developed software that has little, if any flexibility. Thus, the customer must tailor her activities to conform to the software. While such software is initially inexpensive compared to custom software, long-term costs (in time and money for software implementation, training, business process alterations, etc.) can be onerous in an enterprise environment. Custom software, as the name implies, is custom built software that is tailored to existing or planned activities of the customer.
Today, software development, and particularly custom software development, is perceived as more of an art than a science. This is particularly true for custom software that is being created by a third-party for an enterprise customer. That is, a developer must rely on her experience, training, intuition and communication skills to create software that is both unique and reliable. This often leads to software of varying degrees of reliability, usefulness and value to the customer.